


For You, The Shadows Fight

by orphan_account



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Apocalypse, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 15:13:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18284852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It was a small town full of survivors. Of real people. People that he could carry out a conversation with. Running it was a girl that appeared to be his age. A girl that understood him and actually listened to him when he talked. And for the first time in the five years that he's been in the apocalypse, maybe even his whole life, he didn't feel alone.Or what if Dolores was a real girl?





	For You, The Shadows Fight

The first thing that she notices about him is his eyes. They’re young. Fresh. Innocent. Like he hasn’t lived here for God only knows how many years. Like he hasn’t been in a him or me situation. Like he hasn’t seen the life disappear out of the eyes of bodies on top of bodies. 

Yet he looks starved. That’s what she’s come to recognize whenever someone new shows up. They all have the same look. Starved for human contact, a real conversation with someone that isn’t themself. A look complete and utter wonderment and what they were seeing. A city. A real town with actual living people. 

She watches his eyes flicker between hers and the small brownstone buildings behind her. It was small and looked like the pictures of New England pre American Revolution. Everything was small and quaint. The town was built into a side of the mountain with what used to be a river roaring in the background. On really quiet nights her brain would almost trick her into hearing it. Those were the worst nights. 

The town used to be a busy port. She grew up here, she would know. Cruise ship after cruise ship and harbor ship after harbor ship. It brought the town a lot of money and a lot of tourists. Now the water was long gone. There only water was from a well and it had to be boiled to be sure that it was safe to drink. When that ran out she didn't know what they were going to do. Probably resort back to anarchy. 

The boy sways back and forth like he’s debating whether or not he should run. She’s seen this before. Sometimes they are more than relieved to find civilization sometimes they are quite skeptical. It’s understanding, as far as she knows, Greland is the only city that exists. “It’s okay.” She says with a reassuring smile. “You can stay or go the choice is yours. My name is Dolores, what’s your name?

“What is this place?” he asks with a bite to his tone that she wasn’t quite expecting. Still she offers a smile and tries to be as calm and nice as possible. It’s in her best interest to get him to stay. The more people here the better. 

“We call it Grey land. It’s just a city full of people who survived the apocalypse.”

“You were here when it happened?” 

His question throws her off for a second as she stumbles through an answer. She’s been asked a thousand questions and that has never been one of them. “Of course I was silly. Where else would I have been?”

“How did it happen?” He ask stuffing his hands into his pocket. “Like what caused all of this.”

“Oh.” She says eyebrows knitting together. “I don’t exactly know. All I know is that one second I was in my room pissed at my mom and the next the entire building had collapsed and I was all alone.”

“So this place-”

“Why don’t I show you around?” She asks cutting the boy off and motioning towards him to follow her. He does as he’s told without a complaint. She walks him down Main Street which is lined with tiny little shops and what not. Not shops like what Main Streets used to have. These were more shops that “sold” necessities. A grocery store that was full of fresh produce from the designated farmer. The equivalent of clothes from seamstress. They weren’t flashy like the clothes she used to wear but they got by. They even had a library which was full of books that people had picked up along the way. Books that actually weren’t destroyed. It was a limited selection but it was better than none at all. Dolores points out all of the various buildings to the boy who only nods in response. 

As they walk down Main Street, everyone they see stops to say hello to Dolores. She can tell that boy doesn't like all the attention and seems annoyed with the more people that stop to talk to them. Almost every person asks about the boy and then welcomes him to town. They’ve all been in this position before. They all know exactly what is going through his mind. 

“So you just like run this town?” He asks as they come to a stop outside what the town considers a hotel. It was solely a place for people who show up and are unsure of whether or not they want to stay or go. They also stay there as we build there house. 

“Yep.” Dolores respond. “Built it from the ground up.”

“And people here corporate?” he asks half in disbelief. “I would’ve thought that everyone would've turned to anarchy and then just started killing each other over minor disagreements.”

“Well.” Dolores says pursing her lips remembering a few very unfortunate case of people being unable to coexist sometimes. “It happens yes. Very few people are unable to adapt. And those who aren’t are sent away.”

“You banish them?”

“I wasn’t going to use that word but yeah. We send them back out into the wasteland and they aren’t allowed to come back.”

“But how are you able to get people to do what you say?” He asks. 

“People are glad to be here. It’s not hard to get people to corporate when they know how awful the alternative is. If they don’t want to help then they don’t have to. They can leave, it’s their choice.”

“So I can leave right now?” He asks.

“Of course.” Dolores says. “But I would highly recommended that you stay the night and see how you are feeling tomorrow morning. Most people make their mind up the second that we put down real food in front of them.” 

“Thanks but no thanks.” He says curtly. “I do better on my own and I’m still trying to figure out how to get back. I don’t need people getting in my way.”

“Get back where?” Dolores asks.

“It doesn't matter.” he says. “Thanks for the tour but I’m going to get going.” 

Dolores watches the boy turn around and start to head off in the direction away from the only civilization that was left on Earth. “Wait!” She calls and he stops and turns around an expectant look on his face. “You never told me your name.”

He looks at her like she’s stupid yet he decides to tell her his name anyways. “It’s Five.” he says.

“That’s your name?” She questions. “Like the number Five?”

“Yeah.” He replied shrugging his shoulders. “My father didn’t really think of us as kids. We were just experiments.” That’s when Dolores notices the faded emblem on his jacket. At first she just assumed it was for some country club but now it’s painfully obvious what it is. He’s one of the Umbrella academy kids. 

“I really think that you should consider staying the night.” Dolores tries again deciding now that she definitely needs him to stay. With his powers the city would be so much better off.

“And I already told you, I do my best work alone.”

“ _Please?_ ” Dolores says with the best puppy dog eyes that she could muster. The same ones that she used to use on her mother when begging her to let her go the movie with some boy. Or to not make her go to school simply because she didn’t want to.

Five stays where he is in the middle of the road for a minute or so before nodding. “Alright one night. Only because I haven’t a good night’s sleep in forever and a meal would be nice.”

“That’s the attitude.” Dolores says as they walk back over to the hotel.

“Beverly.” Dolores says standing in front of the desk when the other woman comes out of the backroom. “Can you _please_ prepare a room for our most recent guest. Five.”

“Yes of course Dolores.” Beverly says before slipping into the backroom grabbing a couple of things and heading down the hall towards a room.

“It shouldn't be too long.” Dolores says solely as a way to fill the uncomfortable silence. Even back before the apocalypse she had never been good at making small talk but she was even more uncomfortable in the awkward silent moments that came from the lack of small talk. 

“How many other people are living here? In the town?”

“There are 231 others.” Dolores says and watches his eyes kind of widen in surprise.

“I didn’t know that many other people survived. I thought that I was the only one.”

“Nope.” Dolores says. “People have come from all North and South America. There’s no telling who all survived over on the other five continents.”

“Yeah.” Five agrees. “It’s like it’s the 1600s again.”

“It is.” Dolores responds as Beverly comes out to take Five back to his room. Dolores follows the two stopping in the doorway. She watches Five walk into the room and all but collapse on what they made of a mattress. Not nearly as comfortable as the real thing but after sleeping on the ground for five years it’s got to be pretty spectacular. “I will stop by tomorrow morning and we can go to breakfast and you can let me know if you want to stay.”

“Okay.” Five says and Dolores nods slightly before closing his door and walking back towards her own house. 

Her house is dark until she lights a candle. No electricity. Not yet at least. None of the 231 people living here know anything about electricity so until someone shows up who does, they will be lighting their houses with candles. 

She lays down in her bed her mind still completely filled with the boy, Five. The second he showed up it was like everything had changed and it terrified her. But at the same time it was the most exhilarating she had felt since she started this town.

He didn’t know it now, but eventually when she laid all of her cards out in front of him, he would realize that he did belong here. That for once he truly wasn’t alone. She could understand him as could he her. She just needed him to give her enough time to show him. She needed him to stay and she was going to do whatever it takes to make sure that he does.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated :)


End file.
